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Spotlight News

Neuroscience stories from the lab and life – by scientists, for everyone.

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) researchers Ben Scholl, Ph.D., Joe Schumacher, Ph.D., and Misha Smirnov, Ph.D. will launch MPFI’s new neuroscience podcast, Neurotransmissions, during Brain Awareness Week, 2016. The podcast will offer an engaging, accessible look inside the neuroscience research world, exploring current research topics and emerging technologies, public health issues in the domain of biomedical science, the intersection between science and society, and unique perspectives and experiences across generations of neuroscientists.

Tampa General Hospital gives $3.5 million for Heart Institute, neurosciences at USF Health

Network News

Neuroscience stories from the lab and life – by scientists, for everyone.

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) researchers Ben Scholl, Ph.D., Joe Schumacher, Ph.D., and Misha Smirnov, Ph.D. will launch MPFI’s new neuroscience podcast, Neurotransmissions, during Brain Awareness Week, 2016. The podcast will offer an engaging, accessible look inside the neuroscience research world, exploring current research topics and emerging technologies, public health issues in the domain of biomedical science, the intersection between science and society, and unique perspectives and experiences across generations of neuroscientists.

Tampa General Hospital gives $3.5 million for Heart Institute, neurosciences at USF Health

The most common type of malignant brain cancer in children is medulloblastoma, a fast growing tumor located in the cerebellum—the lower, rear portion of the brain. Although the standard treatment, an aggressive combination of surgery, radiation, and high-dose chemotherapy, cures more than 70 percent of patients, many survivors are left with profound long-term side effects, including cognitive deficits and increased incidence of other cancers.

NSU to Raise Half a Billion Dollars by 2020 Through Philanthropy and Research Funding

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – Scholarships and research opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds. Breakthrough stem cell research. New therapies for patients with cancer and autism. Interdisciplinary collaboration in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

These are just a few of the goals on which Nova Southeastern University (NSU) has its sights set as it launches Realizing Potential:The Campaign for Nova Southeastern University, the largest externally-funded campaign in the university’s more than 50-year history and in the history of Broward County. $250 million will be raised from philanthropic gifts with another $300 million to come from externally funded research.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A National Science Foundation (NSF) report lists Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) as the No.1 historically Black college or university (HBCU) in the nation for total research and development (R&D) expenditures.

The NSF recently released data from its Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions study, which reveals that the top 20 HBCUs combined, had total R&D expenditures of $455.1 million, while FAMU alone accounted for a staggering $51.1 million of that amount.

Distinguished USF Health Professor Cesario Borlongan, PhD, is internationally recognized for translational research on the neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects of stem cell therapies in stroke.

Over the last 22 years, his innovative work in the field of neuroscience has encompassed other neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury as well as stroke. Dr. Borlongan, director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at USF, does not hesitate to take calculated risks when it comes to following a different path of inquiry that may lead to a new discovery.

UWF: Mobile app developers aim to make history more relevant, lucrative

A mobile app developed by researchers at the University of West Florida is helping to make history more accessible, relevant and lucrative. That was the upshot of a roundtable discussion held Aug. 19 at the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center, in downtown Pensacola.

The event was meant to showcase the work of UWF professor Patrick Moore and his graduate students, who spent 28 days this summer traveling the country and developing content for Next Exit History to mark the centennial of the National Park Service.

A Florida State University engineering professor has developed a new highly efficient and low cost light emitting diode that could help spur more widespread adoption of the technology.

“It can potentially revolutionize lighting technology,” said Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Zhibin Yu. “In general, the cost of LED lighting has been a big concern thus far. Energy savings have not balanced out high costs. This could change that.”

FSU receives $2.2 million federal grant to support traditionally underrepresented students

Florida State University will receive $2.2 million over the next five years to fund two programs designed to support traditionally underrepresented students in higher education.

The two competitive grants are part of the Federal TRIO Programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The grants will allow the university to increase its efforts to serve first-generation college students and students with disabilities who need academic assistance.

Each year, more strains of bacteria develop resistance to the antibiotics we use to treat deadly infections. At The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) scientists have been working to develop new forms of these drugs, including an antibiotic called arylomycin—but tests have shown that it is possible for bacteria to become resistant to arylomycin, too.

Now, scientists at TSRI have discovered that the important human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, develops resistance to this drug by “switching on” a previously uncharacterized set of genes

TAMPA, Fla. – Pancreatic cancer, a highly lethal malignancy, is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States. Approximately 25 percent of patients with early cancers undergo potential curative treatment with surgery and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, only about 30 percent of patients who receive this intervention experience long-term cure.Part of this high mortality rate is attributed to a lack of effective diagnostic and prognostic tests. Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have utilized modern advanced technology and developed a prognostic test that can determine which early-stage pancreatic cancer patients will have a better outcome following surgery.

“There is an unmet need to develop a reliable test which will better predict prognosis for patients with early pancreatic cancer and thereby allow for personalized treatment and the wise investigation of novel interventions. New strategies, such as our discovery of a gene signature that can discriminate between patients, hold the promise that in the future patients who will not benefit from surgery can be identified and offered other treatments that may be more beneficial to them,” said first author Dung-Tsa Chen, Ph.D., senior member of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Department at Moffitt.

Neuroscience stories from the lab and life – by scientists, for everyone.

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) researchers Ben Scholl, Ph.D., Joe Schumacher, Ph.D., and Misha Smirnov, Ph.D. will launch MPFI’s new neuroscience podcast, Neurotransmissions, during Brain Awareness Week, 2016. The podcast will offer an engaging, accessible look inside the neuroscience research world, exploring current research topics and emerging technologies, public health issues in the domain of biomedical science, the intersection between science and society, and unique perspectives and experiences across generations of neuroscientists.

Tampa General Hospital gives $3.5 million for Heart Institute, neurosciences at USF Health

The most common type of malignant brain cancer in children is medulloblastoma, a fast growing tumor located in the cerebellum—the lower, rear portion of the brain. Although the standard treatment, an aggressive combination of surgery, radiation, and high-dose chemotherapy, cures more than 70 percent of patients, many survivors are left with profound long-term side effects, including cognitive deficits and increased incidence of other cancers.

NSU to Raise Half a Billion Dollars by 2020 Through Philanthropy and Research Funding

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – Scholarships and research opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds. Breakthrough stem cell research. New therapies for patients with cancer and autism. Interdisciplinary collaboration in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

These are just a few of the goals on which Nova Southeastern University (NSU) has its sights set as it launches Realizing Potential:The Campaign for Nova Southeastern University, the largest externally-funded campaign in the university’s more than 50-year history and in the history of Broward County. $250 million will be raised from philanthropic gifts with another $300 million to come from externally funded research.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A National Science Foundation (NSF) report lists Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) as the No.1 historically Black college or university (HBCU) in the nation for total research and development (R&D) expenditures.

The NSF recently released data from its Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions study, which reveals that the top 20 HBCUs combined, had total R&D expenditures of $455.1 million, while FAMU alone accounted for a staggering $51.1 million of that amount.

Distinguished USF Health Professor Cesario Borlongan, PhD, is internationally recognized for translational research on the neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects of stem cell therapies in stroke.

Over the last 22 years, his innovative work in the field of neuroscience has encompassed other neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury as well as stroke. Dr. Borlongan, director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at USF, does not hesitate to take calculated risks when it comes to following a different path of inquiry that may lead to a new discovery.

UWF: Mobile app developers aim to make history more relevant, lucrative

A mobile app developed by researchers at the University of West Florida is helping to make history more accessible, relevant and lucrative. That was the upshot of a roundtable discussion held Aug. 19 at the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center, in downtown Pensacola.

The event was meant to showcase the work of UWF professor Patrick Moore and his graduate students, who spent 28 days this summer traveling the country and developing content for Next Exit History to mark the centennial of the National Park Service.

A Florida State University engineering professor has developed a new highly efficient and low cost light emitting diode that could help spur more widespread adoption of the technology.

“It can potentially revolutionize lighting technology,” said Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Zhibin Yu. “In general, the cost of LED lighting has been a big concern thus far. Energy savings have not balanced out high costs. This could change that.”

FSU receives $2.2 million federal grant to support traditionally underrepresented students

Florida State University will receive $2.2 million over the next five years to fund two programs designed to support traditionally underrepresented students in higher education.

The two competitive grants are part of the Federal TRIO Programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The grants will allow the university to increase its efforts to serve first-generation college students and students with disabilities who need academic assistance.

Each year, more strains of bacteria develop resistance to the antibiotics we use to treat deadly infections. At The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) scientists have been working to develop new forms of these drugs, including an antibiotic called arylomycin—but tests have shown that it is possible for bacteria to become resistant to arylomycin, too.

Now, scientists at TSRI have discovered that the important human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, develops resistance to this drug by “switching on” a previously uncharacterized set of genes

TAMPA, Fla. – Pancreatic cancer, a highly lethal malignancy, is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States. Approximately 25 percent of patients with early cancers undergo potential curative treatment with surgery and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, only about 30 percent of patients who receive this intervention experience long-term cure.Part of this high mortality rate is attributed to a lack of effective diagnostic and prognostic tests. Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have utilized modern advanced technology and developed a prognostic test that can determine which early-stage pancreatic cancer patients will have a better outcome following surgery.

“There is an unmet need to develop a reliable test which will better predict prognosis for patients with early pancreatic cancer and thereby allow for personalized treatment and the wise investigation of novel interventions. New strategies, such as our discovery of a gene signature that can discriminate between patients, hold the promise that in the future patients who will not benefit from surgery can be identified and offered other treatments that may be more beneficial to them,” said first author Dung-Tsa Chen, Ph.D., senior member of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Department at Moffitt.